George Armstrong Custer: Difference between revisions

{{use mdy dates|date=July 20212024}}

| commands = [[Michigan Brigade|Michigan Cavalry Brigade]]<br />3rd Cavalry Division<br />2nd Cavalry Division<br />[[7th U.S. Cavalry|7th U.S. Cavalry Regiment]]

| spouse = {{marriage|[[Elizabeth Bacon Custer|Elizabeth Bacon]]|1864}}

Custer graduated from [[United States Military Academy|West Point]] and, though he has been characterized as an inept student for having been last in his graduating class, he actually finished thirty-fourth34th out of a starting class of one hundred and eight108 candidates.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ambrose |first1=Stephen E. |title=Crazy Horse and Custer: The Parallel Lives of Two American Warriors |date=1996 |publisher=First Anchor |pages=Chapter 6}}</ref> Following graduation, he worked closely with General [[George B. McClellan]] and the future General [[Alfred Pleasonton]], both of whom recognized his ability as a cavalry leader. He was subsequently promoted to [[Brigadier general (United States)|brigadier general]] of volunteers at ageaged 23. Only a few days after his promotionafterwards, he fought at the [[Battle of Gettysburg]], where he commanded the [[Michigan Cavalry Brigade]]. Despite being outnumbered, Custer defeated [[J. E. B. Stuart]]'s attack at what is now known as [[Battle of Gettysburg, third day cavalry battles|East Cavalry Field]].

In 1864, he served in the [[Overland Campaign]] and [[Philip Sheridan]]'s army in the [[Valley Campaigns of 1864|Shenandoah Valley]], defeating [[Jubal Early]] at [[Battle of Cedar Creek|Cedar Creek]]. In 1865, he destroyed or captured the remainder of Early's forces at the [[Battle of Waynesboro, Virginia|Battle of Waynesboro]]. His division blocked the [[Army of Northern Virginia]]'s final retreat and received the first flag of truce from the Confederates. He was also present at [[Robert E. Lee]]'s surrender to [[Ulysses S. Grant]] at [[Battle of Appomattox Court House|Appomattox Court House]], Virginia. After the war, Custer was commissioned as a [[lieutenant colonel]] in the Regular Army and was sent west to fight in the Indian Wars, mainly against the [[Lakota people|Lakota]] and other [[Plains Indians|Plains Peoples]]. On June 25, 1876, while leading the [[7th Cavalry Regiment]] at the [[Battle of the Little Bighorn]] in [[Montana Territory]] against a coalition of Native American tribes,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/george-armstrong-custer|title=George Armstrong Custer|date=2009-11-04|website=American Battlefield Trust|language=en|access-date=2020-02-06}}</ref> he was killed along with every soldier of the five [[Company (military unit)|companies]] he led. This event became known as "[[Battle of the Little Bighorn|Custer's Last Stand]]".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-the-Little-Bighorn|title=Battle of the Little Bighorn {{!}} Summary, Location, & Custer's Last Stand|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en|access-date=2020-02-06}}</ref>

His dramatic end was as controversial as the rest of his career, and the reaction to his life and career remains deeply divided. His mythologized status in American history was partly established through the energetic lobbying of his wife [[Elizabeth Bacon Custer|Elizabeth Bacon "Libbie" Custer]] throughout her long widowhood which spanned six decades.<ref>Louise Barnett, ''Touched by Fire: The Life, Death, and Mythic Afterlife of George Armstrong Custer'' (New York: Henry Holt, 1996), pp. 4–5.</ref>

[[File:Custer Staghounds.jpg|thumb|Custer and [[Bloody Knife]] (kneeling left), Custer'shis favorite [[United States Army Indian Scouts|Indian Scout]]. Custer was well-liked by his native scouts, whose company he enjoyed. He often ate with them. A diary entry in May 1876 by Kellogg records, "General Custer visits scouts; much at home amongst them."<ref>Mark Kellogg, "Notes: May 17 to June 9, 1876, of the Little Bighorn Expedition", Contributions to the Historical Society of Montana, Volume 9 (1923): p. 215.</ref>]]

[[File:Hunting and camping party of Custer (standing in center) and invited guests. Fort A. Lincoln on the Little Heart River, - NARA - 530885.tif|thumb|right|250pxupright=1.6|Hunting and camping party near Fort Abraham Lincoln (George Custer, center) 1875.(D.B. Berry) A goodAn illustration of the variety of uniforms worn by Cavalry Regiments in the west. From left to right: Lt. James Calhoun, Mr. Swett, Capt. Stephen Baker, Boston Custer, Lt. Winfield Scott Edgerly, Miss Watson, Capt. Myles Walter Keogh, Mrs. Maggie Calhoun, Mrs. Elizabeth Custer, Lt. Col. George Custer, Dr. H.O. Paulding, Mrs. Henrietta Smith, Dr. George Edwin Lord, Capt. Thomas Bell Weir, Lt. William Winer Cooke, Lt. R.E. Thompson, Miss ; Wadsworth, another Miss Wadsworth, Capt. Thomas Custer and Lt. Algernon Emery Smith. Identications c/o Denver Public Library<ref>https://dp.la/item/4da699d78eed3bd9e9c46dd4d45fc32a Denver Public Library</ref>]]

On February 1, 1866, Major General Custer mustered out of the U.S. volunteer service and took an extended leave of absence until September 24.<ref>{{citeCite web|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/America/United_States/Army/USMA/Cullums_Register/1966*.html|title=George A. Custer • Cullum's Register • 1966|website=penelope.uchicago.edu}}</ref> During this time he explored several options in New York City,<ref name="utley-38">Utley 2001, p. 38.</ref> where he considered careers in railroads and mining.<ref name="utley-39">Utley 2001, p. 39.</ref> Offered a position (and $10,000 in gold) as adjutant general of the army of [[Benito Juárez]] of [[Mexico]], who was then in a struggle with the Mexican Emperor [[Maximilian I of Mexico|Maximilian I]] (a satellite ruler of French Emperor [[Napoleon III]]), Custer applied for a one-year leave of absence from the U.S. Army, which was endorsed by [[Ulysses S. Grant|Grant]] and Secretary Stanton. However, Sheridan and Mrs. Custer disapproved, and after his request for leave was opposed by U.S. Secretary of State [[William H. Seward]], who was against having an American officer commanding foreign troops, Custer refused the alternative of resignation from the Army to take the lucrative post.<ref name="utley-39"/><ref>Wert (1996), p. 241.</ref>

Custer's 7th Cavalry was originally scheduled to leave [[Fort Abraham Lincoln]] on April 6, 1876, but on March 15 he was summoned to Washington to testify at congressional hearings. Rep. [[Hiester Clymer]]'s Committee was investigating alleged corruption involving Secretary of War [[William W. Belknap]] (who had resigned March 2), along with President Grant's brother Orville and traders granted monopolies at frontier Army posts.<ref>Edgar I. Stewart, ''Custer's Luck''. (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press,1967) p. 124.</ref> It was alleged that Belknap had been selling these lucrative trading post positions where soldiers were required to make their purchases. Custer himself had experienced first hand the high prices being charged at Fort Lincoln.<ref>Stewart, ''Custer's Luck''. pp. 120-121</ref>

At that time, the 7th Cavalry's regimental commander, Colonel [[Samuel D. Sturgis]], was on detached duty as the Superintendent of Mounted Recruiting Service and in command of the Cavalry Depot in [[St. Louis, Missouri]],<ref>{{cite web |url =https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/America/United_States/Army/USMA/Cullums_Register/1303*.html |title= Online version of Cullum's Register of Graduates of the United States Military Academy – Class of 1846 – Samuel D. Sturgis |access-date = 10 December 2018}}</ref> which left Lieutenant Colonel Custer in command of the regiment. Custer and the 7th Cavalry departed from [[Fort Abraham Lincoln]] on May 17, 1876, part of a larger army force planning to round up remaining free Indians. Meanwhile, in the spring and summer of 1876, the Hunkpapa Lakota holy man [[Sitting Bull]] had called together the largest gathering of Plains Indians at Ash Creek, Montana (later moved to the Little Bighorn River) to discuss what to do about the whites.<ref>Marshall 2007, p. 15.</ref> It was this united encampment of Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho Indians that the 7th Calvary met at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in the [[Crow Indian Reservation]]<ref>Kappler, Charles J.: Indian Affairs. Laws and Treaties. Vol. II. Washington, 1904, p. 1008-1011. Treaty with the Crows, 1868.</ref> created in old Crow Country. (Inin the [[Treaty of Fort Laramie (1851)|Fort Laramie Treaty (of 1851)]], the valley of the Little Bighorn is in the heart of the Crow Indian treaty territory and was accepted as such by the Lakota, the Cheyenne, and the Arapaho).<ref>Kappler, Charles J.: Indian Affairs. Laws and Treaties. Vol. II. Washington, 1904, p. 594.</ref> The Lakotas were staying in the valley without consent from [[Crow Nation|the Crow tribe]],<ref>Hoxie, Frederick E.: Parading Through History. The Making of the Crow Nation in America, 1805-1935. Cambridge,1995, p. 108.</ref> which sided with the Army to expel the Indian invaders.<ref>Dunlay, Thomas W.: Wolves for the Blue Soldiers. Indian Scouts and Auxiliaries with the United States Army, 1860-90. Lincoln and London, 1982, pp. 113-114.</ref>

Several individuals claimed responsibility for killing Custer, including [[White Bull (Native American)|White Bull]] of the [[Miniconjou]]s, [[Rain-in-the-Face]], Flat Lip, and Brave Bear.<ref>Dee Brown, ''Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee'', Vintage, 1991, {{ISBN|978-0-09-952640-7}}, p.296-297.</ref> In June 2005, at a public meeting, Northern Cheyenne storytellers said that according to their oral tradition, [[Buffalo Calf Road Woman]], a Northern Cheyenne [[heroine]] of the [[Battle of the Rosebud]], struck the final blow against Custer, which knocked him off his horse before he died. She hit him with a club-like instrument.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://mentalfloss.com/article/502013/retrobituaries-buffalo-calf-road-woman-custers-final-foe|title=Retrobituaries: Buffalo Calf Road Woman, Custer's Final Foe|date=2017-06-22|website=mentalfloss.com|language=en|access-date=2019-03-21}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.helenair.com/news/state-and-regional/article_fcf44c96-cfb6-56f4-9c57-062e944350ce.html|first=Martin J. |last=Kidston|title=Northern Cheyenne break vow of silence|publisher=Helenair.com|date=June 28, 2005|access-date=October 23, 2009}}</ref>

A contrasting version of Custer's death is suggested by the testimony of an Oglala named Joseph White Cow Bull, according to novelist and Custer biographer Evan Connell. He says that Joseph White Bull stated he had shot a rider wearing a buckskin jacket and big hat at the riverside when the soldiers first approached the village from the east. The initial force facing the soldiers, according to this version, was quite small (possibly as few as four warriors) yet challenged Custer's command. The rider who was hit had shouted orders that prompted the soldiers to attack and was next to a rider who bore a flag, but when the buckskin-clad rider fell off his horse after being shot, many of the attackers reined up. The allegation that the buckskin-clad officer was Custer, if accurate, might explain the supposed rapid disintegration of Custer's forces.<ref>Connell (1984), pp. 413–414.</ref> However, several other officers of the Seventh, including [[William W. Cooke|William Cooke]], [[Thomas Custer|Tom Custer]] and William Sturgis, were also dressed in buckskin on the day of the battle, and the fact that each of the non-mutilation wounds to George Custer's body (a bullet wound below the heart and a shot to the left temple) would have been instantly fatal casts doubt on his being wounded or killed at the ford, more than a mile from where his body was found.<ref>Wert, 1996, p. 355.</ref> The circumstances are, however, consistent with [[David Humphreys Miller]]'s suggestion that Custer's attendantssubordinates would not have left his dead body behind to be desecrated.<ref>[[David Humphreys Miller]], ''Custer's Fall: The Indian Side of the Story''. University of Nebraska Press, 1985.</ref>

The bodies of Custer and his brother Tom were wrapped in canvas and blankets, then buried in a shallow grave, covered by the basket from a [[travois]] held in place by rocks. When soldiers returned a year later, the brothers' grave had been scavenged by animals and the bones scattered. "Not more than a double handful of small bones were picked up."<ref>Richard Hardoff, ''The Custer Battle Casualties: Burials, Exhumations, and Reinterments''. (El Segundo, CA: Upton and Sons, 1989, {{ISBN|0912783141}}), pp. 25, 45.</ref> Custer was reinterred with full [[Military funeralfunerals in the United States|military honors]] at [[West Point Cemetery]] on October 10, 1877. The battle site was designated a [[U.S. National Cemetery|National Cemetery]] in 1886.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://mrail.net/data/cemete/mont/bighorn/custer/index.htm|title=Custer National Cemetery - Big Horn County - Montana|website=mrail.net|access-date=2020-02-18}}</ref>

Custer enjoyed writing, often writing all night long. HeBefore leaving the steamer ''Far West'' for the final leg of the journey, Custer wrote all night. His orderly John Burkman stood guard in front of his tent and on the morning of June 22, 1876, found Custer "hunched over on the cot, just his coat and his boots off, and the pen still in his hand."<ref>Glendolin D. Wagner, Old Neutrement. (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1989), pp. 137–138.</ref> Custer wrote a series of magazine articles of his experiences on the frontier, which were published in book form as ''My Life on the Plains'' in 1874. The work is still a valued primary source for information on U.S.-Native relations.{{citation needed|date=August 2020}}

After his death, Custer achieved lasting fame. Custer's wife [[Elizabeth Bacon Custer|Elizabeth]], who had accompanied him in many of his frontier expeditions, did much to advance his fame with the publication of several books about her late husband: ''Boots and Saddles, Life with General Custer in Dakota'',<ref>Elizabeth B. Custer, Boots and Saddles, or Life in Dakota with General Custer. (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1885)</ref> ''Tenting on the Plains, or General Custer in Kansas and Texas''<ref>Elizabeth B. Custer, Tenting on the Plains, or General Custer in Kansas and Texas. (New York, C.L. Webster and Co., 1887)</ref> and ''Following the Guidon''.,<ref>Elizabeth B. Custer, Following the Guidon. (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1890)</ref>, thus furthering a "Custer myth".<ref name=":02">{{citation |author=Ezra J. Warner |date=1964 |location=Baton Rouge |pages=110 |publisher=Louisiana State University Press |title=Generals in blue: lives of the Union commanders}}<!-- auto-translated from German by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> The emergence of this myth was also supported by the secrecy of the Official Record of the 1879 Court of Inquiry, which was not released until 1951.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Graham |first=William Alexander |title=The Custer Myth: A Source Book of Custeriana |last2=Dustin |first2=Fred |publisher=Stackpole Company |year=1953 |pages=xii}}</ref>

The assessment of Custer's actions during the American Indian Wars has undergone substantial reconsideration in modern times. In his 1953 Documenting the arc of popular perception in his biography ''[[Son of the Morning Star]]'' (1984), author [[Evan S. Connell]] notes the reverential tone of Custer's first biographer Frederick Whittaker (whose book was rushed out the year of Custer's death.)<ref>Connell (1984), p. 287.</ref> Connell concludes:

*Custer Memorial Monument at his birthplace was erected by the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical society in 1931. It is located near the remains of the foundation of his birthplace homestead in New Rumley, Ohio. Custer Monument is managed locally by the Custer Memorial Association.<ref> https://www.ohiohistory.org/visit/browse-historical-sites/custer-monument/ </ref>

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